In this episode, we dive into Koi... Mil Gaya (2003) — a landmark Bollywood sci-fi film that mashes together childhood wonder, alien encounters, and Hrithik Roshan doing gravity-defying backflips. Directed by Rakesh Roshan, the movie tells the story of Rohit, a developmentally disabled young man who befriends Jaadu, a stranded alien with mysterious powers.

Right away, our discussion spiraled into the strange energy of this movie — part E.T., part Power Rangers, and very much early-2000s Bollywood spectacle. We talked about how Koi... Mil Gaya is working with the full Spielberg playbook — lost alien, childlike innocence, a government cover-up — but filtered through the sensibilities of Bollywood musicals, complete with Jaadu dancing and a villain who looks like a rejected X-Files extra.

A big chunk of the episode was us wrestling with how the movie portrays Rohit's developmental disability. There was a lot of confusion (and Googling) about whether the character is supposed to be autistic, neurodivergent, or just movie magic "slow." We landed on the fact that this film uses whatever terminology and logic is most convenient scene-to-scene — sometimes he's struggling with basic communication, and then five minutes later he’s out here hacking computers like Neo from The Matrix. As Adam pointed out, this movie turns into a hacker origin story out of nowhere.

Visually, Koi... Mil Gaya is peak Y2K Bollywood — the special effects feel ripped straight from an educational CD-ROM, and the fashion is all shiny tracksuits and aggressively gelled hair. Hrithik Roshan, to his credit, goes all in on playing Rohit — whether that’s getting bullied by children, playing basketball against grown adults twice his size, or doing very real backflips that made us gasp out loud.

One of our favorite discussions was about Jaadu himself — a character that’s somehow become one of Indian cinema’s most iconic aliens. We debated whether Jaadu is cute or terrifying (opinions were split), but everyone agreed that the Windows XP startup sound when Jaadu uses his powers is the most era-specific detail in the whole movie.

Finally, we unpacked the legacy of Koi... Mil Gaya — how it unexpectedly launched one of Bollywood’s first cinematic universes with the Krrish films, and how Rakesh Roshan’s brand of heartfelt, logic-breaking sci-fi somehow still works because of its earnestness. Even if the movie doesn’t hold up in every way, it’s impossible not to appreciate its weird charm, its emotional sincerity, and its place as a formative movie for so many Indian millennials.

Also: shoutout to Hrithik’s fingers — yes, we noticed — and yes, the aliens in the movie totally have the same weird extra thumb thing. Cinema magic.